ILL. Not very long ago there were two sheep who put on wolf's clothing and went among the wolves as spies, to see what was going on. And to help the flock be better prepared against these predators.They arrived on a holiday, when all the wolves were eating and drinking and dancing in the clubs.
The first sheep said to his companion, "Wolves are just like us, only partying more. It looks like every day is a party day in Wolfland." He made some notes on a piece of paper (which a spy should never do) and he headed them "My Twenty-Four Hours in Wolfland".
While back from the Wolf’s place, these first sheep decided not to be a spy any longer but to write a book on Wolfland and also some articles for the Sheep's Home Companion magazine. The other sheep guessed what he was planning to do, so he slipped away and began to write a book called "My Ten Hours in Wolfland."
The first sheep suspected what was up when he found his friend had gone, so he sign a contract with a Hollywood producer for the rights over a movie "The superheroes of the Wolfland,". The other sheep immediately sold his manuscript to a TV syndicate for an entire season series called: “The Mysteries of the Wolfland during the Full Moon Night”.
Everybody in Sheepland became fascinated with wolfs’ stories and movies The two sheep became rich and famous. Both sheep gave the same message to their fellows: wolves were just like sheep, except partying more. It looks like every day is a party day in Wolfland. The sheep were convinced by all this, so they drew in their sentinels and they let down their barriers. When the wolves descended on them one night, howling and slavering, the sheep were as easy to kill as flies on a windowpane.
Moral? It’s up to you to find it… Esther for the End-times, the 6th part…A grand pause takes place between chapters 4 and 5. A time-out - a 72-hour intermission that represents a silent yet powerful interlude during which Esther draws on the source of her strength.
- DECISION –“Thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).
- ACTION -"Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace" (Esther 5:1),
Between Decision and Action, Esther enters a period of waiting. Three days of deliberate listening, searching, "mindfulness." Of becoming aware of what God might be doing for His endangered people.
An important Hebrew word helps us catch the point of this pause: ken, translated "thus, so, likewise" in Esther 4:16. Its root mean¬ing gives the idea of moving "from provision through preparation and establishment to fixity and tightness."
In view of something in the future, I do certain things now in order to get ready for it. Surprisingly, ken ap¬pears twice, back to back, in Esther's response to Mordecai—"I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go" (Esther 4:16. NASB). In other words, "When this [period of preparation] is done, I will go" (NIV). Something important must first take place. Only then will Esther be prepared to act. As Esther ponders Mordecai's words, "And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" (v 14), she wonders, Is this so? Is God about to do something through me? If so, I need to know. I need to be ready.
Remember, Esther was a good person. She believed in God. The problem was that God just wasn't the all-purpose and priority in her life. She was part of the compromising Diaspora of exiled Jews. Now, in view of the coming crisis, her focus shifts, and Esther does what it takes both to deepen her relationship with God and to be truly aware of His leading…
It reminds me of what I've heard many inactive members say through the years: "I left the church, but I never left God. God has al¬ways been a part of my life, even though I don't go to church or do all the things the church tells me to do."
While their lifestyle, personal decisions, and priorities may not harmonize with the way God asks them to live or be or do, in their heart these inactive members still believe. They still consider themselves one of God's children and feel very much in tune with Him. But you know, when a crisis breaks out, when life fills up with chaos, many of those same people discover that they're not as connected to God as they once imagined.
Esther now realized that she'd been running on empty and did something about it. She could not act without first quieting her soul and connecting once again with God. She cannot do one more step in her life without first clarifying the issues and what God might be up to.
It is a picture of how it will be with many of God's people in the end. Laodicea will be brought to the so call THE TIME/NIGHT OF JACOB’S TROUBLE.
The book of Esther is the story of a loving God who wakes up His people before it is too late. When many begin to sense the looming crisis of the end-time, they, too, will do the important heart work that prepares them for "what God wants to do for them and through them.
"Go gather all the Jews . . . and fast for me," she commanded Mordecai (verse 16, NKJV). It's easy to race by simple phrases such as this and miss their subtle meaning. One of the forms of the Hebrew word translated here as gather means to wrap as in a cover."
Isaiah writes in Isa. 28:20 of a bed that is too short on which to stretch out on, and a blanket too small to wrap one¬self in… READ
Esther uses the same word: gather, wrap. What was she saying? "Gather them together and let me be wrapped (as in a cover) in the sphere of their collective intercession." Esther identifies with her people, wraps herself within what it means not only to be Jewish but God's people.
"This is what I believe. These are my peo¬ple, my community of faith. These are the things God asks me to do for Him. This is how I am to live in the world. It is who I am." She formed a "sacred hoop," moving from the "Me" to the "We," and in doing so deepened her awareness of God and His presence.
Esther shows that spiritual renewal and spiritual power in times of crisis do not center in individualism. They come in the context of community with the people of God. When we want to get back on track with God we need to step once again into the sphere of His body.
Detaching ourselves from His people, we lose connection with God. Thus when we forget the "We" and fling out into the "Me" we dis¬card our sense of identity, and our moral spiritual life begins to decay.
God has designed that we find spiritual and moral power in community of believers – the church. In that moment of crisis Esther instinctively understood this relational principle.
So Esther unfurls her true self and identifies with her people and her faith:
• "Go, assemble all the Jews" and have them "fast for me" (Esther 4: 16);
• "let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request" (Esther 7:3);
• "for we have been sold, I and my people" (v 4);
• "now if we…, I" (v. 4);
• "how can I endure to see the calamity which shall befall my people, and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?" (Esther 8:6).
Three days of fasting and praying (4:16). The book of Esther mentions fasting several times. Old Testament often associates fasting with prayer and deep religion quests (2 Sam. 12:16; Ps. 35:13; Jonah 3:5-9; Dan. 9:3)."
The Jews didn't fast to lose weight, but rather for spiritual reasons.
When an issue became a prominent concern in their lives, it was no time for fun and feasting. It was an occasion for prayer and mindfulness. Fasting and prayer are a preparatory experience during which we gain perspective on what we are dealing with. They provide an interlude in life in which we exchange our weakness for God's strength. A pause that enables us to hear God's voice more clearly.
DEF. The word for fasting literally means "to cover the mouth." During fasting we symbolically cover the entrances or accesses to our innermost being. Covering the eyes and ears of our mind, we filter what enters our heart.
ILL. A friend of mine Greek-Orthodox, Dan Manastireanu stays away from his Facebook account during Lent time… I appreciate this. Fasting renews spiritual vision. As with Esther, when you feel that your life is out of control or if you have lost your first love for the Lord, fasting can help you focus once again on God's plan for your life.
ILL. Before refrigerators people used ice to preserve food. During winter, when streams and lakes froze, people cut large blocks of ice and hauled them to icehouses for storage. Later they would sell the ice to customers -who would use it in their iceboxes or coolers. Icehouses had thick insulated walls, no windows, and a tightly fitted door. When the workers brought blocks of ice to the icehouse, they covered them with sawdust. It kept them from freezing together and added further insula¬tion. The ice in icehouses would often last well into the summer.
Abraham Lincoln used to tell this story: One man lost a valuable pocket watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers joined his search, but… nothing. During their lunch break a young lad/boy overheard the men talking about the lost watch. While they were eating, he slipped into the icehouse and soon emerged with the watch, to the men's amazement. "How did you find it?" they asked in puzzled surprise. "I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. After a while I heard the watch ticking."
Often the question is not whether God is speaking to us or work¬ing in our lives. He is always revealing Himself. The issue, rather, is whether we are being still enough, quiet enough, aware enough to hear God and understand what it is He is saying about our life.
When we wait, we listen, and when we listen, we become aware of God's voice and are more inclined to let Him lead. Waiting upon God in prayer and fasting in unpredictable and unprecedented situations is cru¬cial. At such times His Word becomes a powerful point of contact be¬tween ourselves and God.
In his book Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby writes: "If you do not have clear instructions from God in a matter, pray and wait. Learn patience. Depend on God's timing. His timing is always right and best. Don't get in a hurry. He may be withholding directions to cause you to seek Him more intently. Don't try to skip over the relationship to get on with doing."
Did you catch that? "Don't skip over the relationship to get to the doing." Make sure relationship comes before doing. Only then can you be sure your doing is in keeping with God's plan and timing.
Jesus says, "He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do hot hear is that you do not belong to God" (John 8:47, NTV). Esther knew she could hear what God had to say only when she truly quieted herself before Him – belonged to Him more than ever before in her life.
She determined to wait on the Lord and allow Him to guide her thoughts and frame her words. As a result she resolved to submit, wait, watch, and finally, join God in whatever He was already doing or was about to do.
Blackaby further notes: "We often act as though God tells us what He wants us to do and sends us off all by ourselves to try and do it. Then, at any time we need Him we can call Him, and He will help us. That is never the biblical picture. When He is about to do something, He reveals what He is about to do to His people. He wants to do it through His people,"
As Esther prepared to go before the king, she had to wait, think, pray, stay quiet, fast, and listen to God's voice in her soul. Only then could God work through her.
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Esther and her close associates in the women's house fasted. Through Mordecai the Jews throughout the city were alerted and they fasted three days without food or water. Finally, at the end of the period, Esther still had not been called to go in to the king for over a month. When the time came, by faith she stepped into the presence of the king. See it in Esther 5:1-2
Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house. And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight…
Now look at this. Where was the king? In his "inner court." Kind of interesting, because we find in the Bible the truth that the earthly tabernacle was but a copy of the greater heavenly tabernacle, a tabernacle "built without hands," and "pitched" by the Lord (Hebrews 8:1-5) "and not man."
No, Ahasuerus' "inner court" was not a literal sanctuary in a tabernacle/ temple type structure. But it was a place where one came before the presence of the king, and where doing so was a matter of life and death! And should we enter the presence of God with less reverence? Of course not. There is a parallel here.
And notice the king's response to Esther. He didn't hesitate, or waffle, or sit there with his eye squinted saying "hmm. Maybe I should let her live, or maybe I should kill her." The record of Scripture says that "When the king saw Esther" she obtained favor in his sight, and he held out his scepter.
Esther typology of Jesus. Just right here is where Esther ought to remind us of Jesus. She goes in before the king to intercede for the salvation of her people from the death decree. And Jesus goes into the presence of God the Father in heaven for us to intercede for the salvation of His people not from a mere temporal death decree, but from an eternal death because the wages of sin is… death (Romans 3)
This is recorded in Hebrews 2:9-18. Notice that, like as Esther risked her life and identified herself with her people, Jesus risked His eternal union with His Father, and in the process gave His life to identify Himself with His people.
Esther goes in before the king just like Jesus goes in before the King. Esther requests the life of her people, just like Jesus requests the life of His people. The King receives Esther's request, just as our Father in heaven receives Jesus' request.
Now notice that at the end of the story, Esther invites the king and Haman to a feast she puts on. It is at this feast or banquet that she makes her request to the king and uncovers Haman's role as the accuser. - Haman had made a gallows to ask the king to hang Mordecai on.
No, oh no; it was not enough to kill virtually the whole Hebrew race for Mordecai's steadfastness, but he must even erect a gallows and hang Mordecai on it to appease his wrath. Cannot wait until the 12th month. Kill him right now. Haman's character is demonic.
It is when Esther goes into the inner court of the king that Haman's true character is revealed. See, we realize that a lot of the gospel is about God's character being revealed, and that's true. But it is also about Satan's character being revealed--not to God, but to the universe.
Application. And we cannot close this worship today without pondering together now how all of this may apply to us. Did you notice that when Esther interceded with the king, she did not intercede alone? Esther 4:15-17
There was a spiritual preparation undertaken by all of the Hebrews in connection with Esther's intercession. She went in on the third day (Esther 5:1), and so we know that they were all still fasting.
There were evidently many hungry and thirsty Jews that day praying for the success of Esther's intercession in their behalf. These things all came together in one climactic, decisive spiritual battle for the ransom of a race.
Friends, we were put here for communion with God; we were designed for prayer. A fish needs water, and a bird needs a sky to fly in so that it may fulfill its "birdness."… If we are made in His image, let's talk with He who is our Father. We are not taking the fullest advantage of prayer. If we were, the world would know it.
Friends, are we not in the same position as the Hebrew people while Esther was going in to plead for their lives? We say we are living in the anti-typical day of atonement - that we are living at the time of heaven's judgment of humankind just before the coming of Jesus.
But how faithful are we at standing in our tent-doors while our High Priest is in the inner court of the tabernacle before the King? How much are we willing to cooperate with Jesus so that His intercession for us can be made effective in our lives? How can we forget the solemnity of the hour in which we live; an hour when everything that heaven has been working for thousands of years is at stake?
Cannot we be more prayerful, more sober, more aware of the spiritual battle being fought all around us, not only for our souls, but even for our neighbors and our friends that may not know God or understand how important obedience to His law is? God's laws are "diverse from all people." And don't forget that the devil is busy hammering and sawing, constructing a gallows to hang you and me on.
So heaven's appeal today must be that we go before our God and plead with Him as He pleads for us. We must plead for our own souls and those of those around us. A death decree is coming. It may not currently be showing on CNN, but we know from Scripture that it is coming. All will worship the adversary whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life.
And such an experience must begin in our closets as we join Jesus in intercession. Let us pattern after Jesus and after Esther.
Now is the appointed time.
